


Aes and Aethen

by SilverServerError



Series: Material Planes [8]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Brian/Taako mention, Comfort, M/M, Modern AU, Office AU, mild ED, nerds in love and caring about each other, not dark or gritty i promise, references to drug abuse, technically a sick fic?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 13:22:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13952457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverServerError/pseuds/SilverServerError
Summary: “Mr. Darling, what can I do for-?”“Brad.”He falls silent at once, cut off by the expression on Brian’s face.Brad pushes his chair back, offering his lap and a look of concern. “Neyë,” he bids softly, coaxing him closer with a wave of one big hand.





	Aes and Aethen

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Everyone! Thanks so much for all the feedback on this AU. :) As you can see, we finally have a shiny new series title to string them together with. So welcome to Material Planes!! Hope you like it. ^^

There are of course many people working at Pantheon that wear high heels. And more than one that walks with the confidant, driving gait that causes the loud clicks to bounce down the the tile hall outside his office like this. But Brad will be damned if he can’t recognize the sound of this particular approach. He’s speaking before his visitor even comes into view.

“Mr. Darling, what can I do for-?”

“Brad.”

He falls silent at once, cut off by the expression on Brian’s face and the protective way he hunches his shoulders. He looks sick. Helpless. Two things that look very out of place on him indeed. There is a moment as Brad adjusts to this new information, then pushes his chair back, offering his lap and a look of concern. “ _Neyë_ ,” he bids softly, coaxing him closer with a wave of one big hand.

Brian closes the door and flicks the lock with a practiced movement. At work, Brad’s door is always open, except when Brian decides it isn’t. He crawls into Brad’s lap and curls up against his chest with no concern for the wrinkles this presses into his blouse and slacks. This more than anything tells Brad this is a bad one.

“Have you eaten?” He asks softly, hugging him close and brushing white hair back from his furrowed brow. He knows from experience never to ask dosage questions.

“Mmhmm.”

“Carbohydrates?” He hates to press the issue, but he needs to know. He gets a weak growl in return and that’s answer enough. “Okay…” He says, soft and soothing as he walks his chair back two paces, one arm stretching to his little office fridge and the other holding Brian steady against him. He picks out two water bottles, one cold, one frozen and his own lunch, then brings them back to his desk. “Okay, why don’t you…” Brian works with him to get into a position that, for better or for worse, is growing familiar. He ends up sitting in Brad’s lap, leaning forward. One hand acts as a pillow for his cheekbone and ear on the desk as he closes his eyes and lets Brad rub slow and calming down his back. He’s feeling too gross to protest as one of the hands shifts gently to check the pulse at his neck.

The first time Brad had felt an elf’s pulse, it had been terrifyingly fast. As was their breathing. As was everything about them. Small, fast, so delicately balanced. So little time to intervene should anything go wrong. Brian’s pulse right now is even faster still. So he doesn’t trust his instincts as he counts in his head for fifteen seconds, eyes on the softly ticking cuckoo clock he’d brought back from their first trip back home together. As the time comes to an end he multiplies by four and the number is distressingly large, but still lower than the warnings he’s found in the guides online.

“Drink,” he says softly, unscrewing the cap to one water bottle and holding it out for him. Brian does so, taking a few sips before he’s traded for the frozen one, which he presses to his forehead with a miserable little groan. Brad touches the other side of the bottle, then traces the cool condensation down the back of his neck.

“Alright, let’s see…” he says softly, bag rustling a little as he navigates it one handed. “I’ve got an orange in here. Leftover lasagna… Some of that garlic bread…”

“Mmm.” Brian frowns, ignoring all of the food being placed on the desk in favor of opening Brad’s second drawer and digging out a plain rice cake from the stash he knows Brad keeps there. “I’m still mad at him.”

Brad sighs internally, but if he’s got enough spare pride to hold a grudge against Taako and the leftovers from their date at the restaurant this weekend, he can’t be feeling too bad. It’s a mixed success and he’s willing to take it as he watches Brian eat meticulously enough not to drop a single rice cake crumb on his slacks.

“Did you warn them you were stepping away?” Brian is of course his main concern, but they are at work, and Brian is an essential cog in the top floor machine. He shakes his head and Brad picks up his phone. “Maybe I can call Kravitz. He can pass on the message that-”

“Just text Raven.”

“I- I don’t actually have her number.” When Brad wants to talk to her, he goes through the official channels, namely, the elf currently sitting on his lap.

“No?” Brain asks, a touch surprised. Then he shrugs and takes Brad’s phone out of his hand, typing in a number. “Zen emergencies only, do you understand?” He passes it back and Brad looks at the number above the blank message with a sort of foreboding power. “She won’t answer right away,” Brian continues, settling back against the desk to rest, “but she’ll know where to check when she notices I’m gone.”

There is of course another issue. “Do you think that’s really the best idea?”

Brain looks back at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I just mean, for me to send it. Doesn’t that seem a little…”

Brian rolls his eyes. “If I was coming down here to fuck you, I would have planned it so she wouldn’t ever miss me.”

Brad flushes a little to have it stated so frankly, but types out the quick message and sends it. True to prediction, there is no immediate response and he sets it aside, screen unlocked, strangely eager for an answer or read receipt or _something_ that proves he had direct private contact with their leader.

“ _Schatz_.” His focus is drawn reluctantly away as Brian pulls on his hands. It takes him a second to realize where they’re being drawn. “Please.”

He’s asking, not begging, as he tries to guide Brad’s hands up and down his inner thighs. He hesitates at first, but Brian is insistent. “Are- Are you sure-”

“Yes, _Liebchen_ , it always makes me feel better.”

“But,” despite his words, his hands start to pet slow and soothing between Brian’s legs. He closes his eyes and leans forward, nuzzling against Brian’s back. “But your heart rate is already very fast, Brian.”

This causes him to look over a shoulder, eyes narrowed and ears cocked in confusion. “ _Na_ , _und_?” This is a paar for the course state of being for Brian every day but Sunday. It’s never stopped them from indulging before.

So Brad looks to him, mouth almost hidden against his back, as if that will soften what he wants to say. “I’m just worried, that if we get your heart rate even higher…” He trails off and Brian gives him a frustrated gesture to continue. “I’m just worried it could hurt you.”

There's silence. Then disbelief. Then disbelieving laughter. “You what?”

He tries his best to stand his ground and be reasonable. “I’m just concerned that-”

“You zink you could give me a hand job so good it would… what? Give me a heart attack?” He lets his head turn to neutral, hugging the cold of the bottle to his chest. “And here I zought I already knew all your weird kinks.”

“It’s not a kink, Brian!” Brad’s normally steady voice is touched with a mix of embarrassment and indignation, all tempered by a hint of anxiety and the need to stay quiet. And still, his hands move along Brian’s thighs. “It’s a legitimate concern I’m having for your wellbeing.”

“ _Ja,_ okay. But why have you seen zose videos where zey pretend-”

Brian cuts himself off suddenly and Brad’s hands pause, waiting with horrified fascination for the end of that sentence. Then, with a quick movement, Brian pushes down on the desk, looking over his shoulder at Brad with narrowed eyes and a calculating expression. Under different circumstances, it would have been very exciting.

“Actually,” Brian says, after searching Brad’s expression. “You’re not really ze type, are you?”

“Are you saying-?”

But then Brian is leaning back on his chest again and pressing a very cold finger to his lips. “Zat’s not important,” Brian says, head resting back so he can watch Brad’s expression. “What’s important is you tell me why you zink it’s possible.”

“Honestly, Brian. It’s not that big of a leap to be concerned when- Mmm!”

He’s cut off as the finger hooks around his tusk and tugs him with a gentle sharpness to meet Brian’s eye.

Who smiles sweetly. “Ze truth, please.”

Brad tries one last time to come up with a lie and before he can even start, Brian’s expression changes, calling silent bullshit. He sighs, leaning his head back on the chair and looking up at the fluorescent lights. “There’s this Orcan legend,” he begins with a defeated huff.

“Oh?”

“Yeah… Damkazaht and Nym. It’s your standard Ancient Orcan-Elvan war story. They were sworn enemies and opposing generals. They had been holding the front for decades when these two decided to meet in secret and settle it with a dual. One thing lead to another…” It was very cute the first time Brad had tried to explain to him how often Orcs took for granted that fighting would end in sex. “Nym won the fight but then… Then that happens afterward. His heart beats too fast and...”

“How does the story end?” Brian asks with a little smile that Brad isn’t sure he understands.

“Damkazaht is honorable in defeat. They retreat. He goes home and lives out his days as a war hero.”

This does have Brian confused. “But he lost. All he had to do was lie and they would have advanced.”

Brad looks down at him. They still have these little moments that don’t quite translate. “But that would be lying.” They just look at each other, waiting for something to click. When it doesn’t, they collectively shrug it off, and Brian settles back against his chest, reaching out for the orange that he neatly starts to peel.

“Well, zats very nerdy. But also very romantic.”

“Romantic?”

Brian nods. “Elves have zis legend too, but it goes a little differently. Zey were secret lovers the whole time. Aes- in our version the elf is called Aes, had taken an injury on ze battlefield and knew he was close to death, but couldn’t stand the zought of leaving zeir battle unfinished. He wanted to finish zings quickly.”

“Sounds like an elf to me,” Brad nods in faux sageness.

It earns him a squirm and a testy groan. “Zat’s awful.” Even so, he passes back an orange segment, which Brad politely accepts with an open mouth. It’s a sweet gesture, but it doesn’t make him nearly as happy as the sight of Brian casually eating the next one himself. “Anyway,” Brian continues, talking around his food a little, “It’s not one of ze popular ones, but somehow I read it a lot as a kid.”

Brad carefully keeps his thoughts to himself about why that might be. Instead, he continues petting Brian’s thigh. He can see it’s having the desired effect on Brian’s body, but if he’s acting this relaxed and content to ignore it, then Brad can follow that lead. Instead Brian rests his head back on Brad’s chest and he turns into the gesture, lips and tusks resting against the crown of Brian’s head, tracing the smooth line of a braid woven back from his temple. It’s like this for a while, just breathing and feeling. Taking turns eating hand-fed orange until it’s gone and he brushes his hands off on a napkin from Brad’s lunch bag. Eventually Brian adjusts his clothes and guides Brad’s hand to him, and even then things are silent. Just a slightly deeper breathing in his ear as a slow three-finger touch strokes and circles him.

“Brad…”

“Mmhmm?”

His answer is a row of neat little kisses tracing down the side of his neck. Anything more and he knows Brian’s lipstick won’t be able to hold up, but that’s for the best. He needs to keep it together until they’re home anyway.

Brian settles his head against his shoulder once more. “I did eat,” he says softly.

“Did you?” He keeps going, not hurrying. Not trying to build things any faster than Brian’s body does on it’s own.

“I did. Real food.”

“Then what was it?” He asks gently, turning his lips to Brian’s hair again to murmur against his scalp.

“I didn’t meditate enough last night.”

“Something keeping you up?”

Brian just shrugs, and Brad gives him a little noise of understanding. It’s more vulnerability than Brain would usually show under the circumstance, and he’s not about to take it for granted or push the limits of that trust.

“We can take a nap when we get home.”

“‘We’?” Brain asks, brow furrowing. “I can take care of myself.”

Brian’s hips start shifting gently on his lap and he takes the hint to move a little faster. “I know you can,” he breathes softly. “But do you want to navigate the ‘ze screamink’ trains all by yourself, or do you want me to call us a ride and then talk to the driver so you don’t have to?”

Brian laughs around a hitch in his breath, a foot bracing against a desk drawer and an arm curling back to hold the back of Brad’s neck. “Stop,” he sighs only half sarcastically, hips rocking into his touch, “I can only take so much romance in one day, _Liebchen_.”

Brad gives him a low growl against the ear and the answering groan from Brian is enough to have him feeling entirely too much lust for an orc that hypothetically needs to be able to walk out of this room in five to ten minutes. He forces himself to think of how Brian had looked when he’d first walked in, and the remembered worry cuts the arousal off like an axe.

“Come on, Brian,” he says softly, moving his second hand down to catch everything. “I know how close you are.”

“Mmm…” Brian closes his eyes and relaxes totally in his arms. It’s hardly any time before his thighs are drawing tight and he’s pressing a gentle grimace to Brad’s shoulder. The come down is as always slow and silent, then he hugs him tight through Brian’s need for touch and reassurance.

“Better?” Brad whispers, when even this is starting to fade. Brian nods and kisses his cheek, still a little shaky and weak but now in a much more familiar way. “You want me to get your things down from the top floor?” Brian gives him a nod, easing out of his lap to fix his slacks and lie on his side across the desk. Brad takes the napkin from his lunch to clean off his hand before reaching for his phone, other hand heavy and grounding on Brian’s top thigh. “Let me just call a…” He trails off as he catches sight of the screen. A read receipt from fifteen minutes ago. A text from five.

_Take care of him._

Brad has half an answer typed out before he loses his nerve and deletes it. Then he’s out of the messenger and calling a ride, trying not to think about it as he drops the phone in a pocket.

“Are you good until I get back?” he asks, attention back on Brian.

He simply nods, hugging the now half-frozen and very wet bottle to his chest in a way that is not altogether convincing. But-

Well, get him home first, then Brad can fret to his heart's content.

He leans down to brush the hair back from his temple and press a final, gentle kiss. “I’ll be back before you know it.” 


End file.
